CODCO - Roots

Roots

In 1973, Tommy Sexton and Diane Olsen wrote a comedic show about Canadian stereotypes of Newfoundlanders, Cod on a Stick. Originally launched in Toronto, the cast consisted of Sexton, Olsen, Greg Malone, Cathy Jones, Mary Walsh and Paul Sametz. The show subsequently opened in St. John's, with Scott Strong replacing Sametz, and then toured the province with Robert Joy replacing Strong. When the show was taped by the National Film Board in 1974, Andy Jones appeared in the cast as well.

Sexton, Olsen, Malone, Cathy Jones, Andy Jones, Walsh and Joy subsequently performed in the show Sickness, Death and Beyond the Grave in 1974. In 1975, all except Malone, who was on a brief sabbatical to study at the Toronto Dance Theatre, appeared in What Do You Want to See the Harbour For, Anyway?; later that year, Malone rewrote the show as Das Capital.

In the fall of that year, the troupe compiled bits from their earlier shows for a week-long performance in Philadelphia, which was titled Philadelphia: Somewhere on the Hungry Coast of Newfoundland. That show was also taped for broadcast on CBC Television's Peep Show, as Festering Forefathers and Running Sons.

Joy and Olsen left the troupe in 1976.

Over the next number of years, the troupe's members only rarely worked together as CODCO, but often collaborated with each other individually on various projects, including the film The Adventure of Faustus Bidgood and the television series The Root Seller, The Wonderful Grand Band and The S and M Comic Book. Greg Thomey and Paul Steffler also frequently collaborated with the CODCO members on various projects.